


baby, we're fireproof

by reyspacescavenger (gallifreyandglowclouds)



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 08:26:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14160762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gallifreyandglowclouds/pseuds/reyspacescavenger
Summary: Scott laughs. "That's a blast from the past." He zooms in on the photo and smiles, then kisses Tessa on the side of the head. "Imagine if they knew what was coming."(Inspired by the little Virtue/Moir picture that Tessa tweeted a few days back.)





	baby, we're fireproof

Tessa loves Japan. And now that she can have Japan where she understands why Scott will indulge her whims around taking endless Instagram photos of cherry blossom trees, or help her find the spot with the best cheesecake in Tokyo. They can have the few days before the start of training for Stars on Ice all to themselves, and it's the closest thing to a vacation that they can spend together on their own. They have slightly more anonymity - in that they can hold hands and walk down the street with a little more faith that nothing will end up online.

"Maybe after the tour," says Scott, as they walk down a bustling Tokyo street crammed with people, and she knows that he means after the whole tour is done, not just the Japan portion, "we can be a little more open with things."

Tessa nods, because she would love nothing more than being able to take the domestic relationship that she and Scott have developed and make sure the world can see it. Right now, though, the timing is difficult, and they've also just spent a significant amount of media airtime quietly denying a romantic relationship. Of course, Tessa feels like she can barely hide how obvious her feelings for Scott are. She asks Patrick about it, while they're lacing up their skates before their rehearsal, and he sighs and says, "Well, let's just say you're a lot better about it than he is."

Stars on Ice still books them two separate rooms, even though the fact that they sleep in the same room is basically an open secret. Tessa has become accustomed to a gentle knock at her door every evening after they officially say goodnight. At least here she and Scott are almost next door, instead of different floors like in Pyeongchang.

She slides the deadbolt across and opens the door to let Scott in. He checks the hallway first, and then slips into Tessa's room. Once the door has latched behind him he leans in and kisses her, and she's reminded of how much she misses being able to do this whenever when they're back at their place in Montreal.

"I have to show you something my mom sent me," she says to him when they break apart. He follows her into her - their, really, because most of Scott's stuff has migrated over to her room, just for efficiency's sake - room, and flops down on the bed while she grabs her tablet.

"Look," she says, slotting in beside him and pulling up the picture of the two of them, probably no more than nine or ten years old, in perfect sync on the ice.

Scott laughs. "That's a blast from the past." He zooms in on the photo and smiles, then kisses Tessa on the side of the head. "Imagine if they knew what was coming."

"I - " Tessa isn't sure what to say, the words caught up in her throat. What would she have done at nine years old if someone with the knowledge of all that would come after had told her that, at twenty-eight, she'd still have Scott and ice skating and all the things that were dear to her then, but in a way that she couldn't have imagined at nine?

"Tess?" Scott says gently, looking over at her with concern.

She still can't speak, still focused on the two of them, so small and - for lack of a better word, really, innocent. Sure, they didn't have five Olympic medals, but that was long before all the surgeries and the dull pain in her lower legs that is a constant companion, even now. There's no media training, no script that they have to follow, no idea that some day, they would carry the ambitions of a whole nation on their shoulders.

Scott thumbs away tears that she hadn't actually realized she was crying.

"Hey," he says, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a hug. "It's okay, whatever it is."

" 'm sorry," she mutters into his shoulder.

"Don't be."

His hand rubs circles on her back, which serves to soothe her a little, but something about the picture and thinking more about it than when her mom first sent it speaks to some greater anxiety that she's been successfully repressing for years.

"Wow, uh, okay," she says, and breaks the hug, leaning back against the backboard of the bed. Scott keeps an arm around her, and looks over at her in concern. "I didn't know that was waiting to bubble up."

He says nothing, just leans into her and puts his head on her shoulder.

"You know, if it's what's going to happen after all of this," he gesticulates to the hotel room, but she knows that he means the tour, "then I'm freaking out a little bit too."

"Mhm."

That's the nature of their world, though - it's always a game of 'what happens after', whether it's surgeries or Olympics or World Championships, but there's always been some kind of definite answer. Now they're both staring off into the unknown, peering over the edge of the abyss, hand in hand, not sure if they want to jump off or not.

"I mean," Scott sighs, "you have an undergrad and a jewelry line and so many things in front of you, and I'm just - I'm just not sure. I don't want to keep you down, Tess."

"Stop it," she says sharply. "Scott, that's not - that's not what you're doing. You are going to keep working with Patch and Marie, and coach the next big thing in ice dance, and we'll live together - wherever, and I'll try and learn how to cook without setting off the smoke alarm, and make that little apartment home, and we'll figure it out together, just like we always have."

She's not sure where she can pull that resolve from, even when she's feeling so vulnerable and straight up scared, but there's something so primal with fear in Scott's eyes that it makes her need to be strong, even if it's just putting on a show for him.

"But," she sighs, "I don't know what's going to happen either." She looks over at him, his eyes watery but smiling, and she can't help feeling tears well up too.

"We'll be together, right?" He asks.

She can't promise him anything, because life is cruel and capricious, but god, does she want to. "Yeah, we will."


End file.
